Ingredients

450g fresh blackberries (or frozen ones, defrosted)

2-3 tbsp cold water

284ml carton double cream

300ml full fat milk

115g golden caster sugar

3 large free-range egg yolks

have lots of ice cubes at the ready

Method

1. Put the canister from the machine into the freezer a day before you want to make the ice cream. Make sure that you have some ice in the freezer too.

2. Wash the blackberries and put them into a medium-sized pan, along with 2-3tbsp cold water. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat, allowing to simmer for about 20 minutes or until very soft.

3. Place into a food processor or blender and whizz up very well. Take care here because the fruit is really hot! Once blended, pour through a fine sieve with a bowl underneath, making sure there are no seeds in the bowl. Allow to cool and then transfer to a plastic container, and place in the fridge overnight (or until you’re ready to make the ice cream).

4. When you’re ready to begin, pour the cream and milk into a medium heavy-based pan, and add half of the sugar. Heat the mixture over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until it almost boils. It’s ready when you can see a few bubbles at the edge. Turn off the heat to allow to cool a little.

5. Put the egg yolks into a bowl with the rest of the sugar and beat with an electric hand beater for about 2 minutes until the mixture has thickened. It should be paler in colour and falls in thick ribbons when you lift the beaters.

6. Using a measuring jug, scoop out about 125ml/4fl oz of the cream mixture and beat into the egg yolks to slacken them. Then pour this into the remaining cream mixture and mix well.

7. Return the pan to a low heat and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon. The custard needs to be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Watch that it doesn’t boil – it should be ready as soon as you see any bubbles about to burst to the surface. At this point, take the pan off the heat so the mixture doesn’t curdle.

8. Pour the custard into a heatproof bowl, then sit it in a bigger bowl one third full of iced water to cool (this takes about 20 minutes). You can just put the pan into a bowl of iced water if it fits. Stir occasionally to stop a skin forming. Put the bowl of custard in the fridge for 3-4 hours, preferably overnight, so it gets really cold.

9. Get the ice cream machine running, then slowly pour in the cold custard and the blackberry mixture. Leave it to churn for 10-30 minutes (depending on your machine). When it stops, it is probably too soft to eat, so spoon into a plastic container. Cover with cling film, then a lid (we only used a lid), and freeze for a minimum of 3 hours. (It will keep in the freezer for 3 months but don’t take it out, then refreeze.) Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving. Don’t forget to add some sprinkles!

To make it by hand

In step 1, heat the milk and half the sugar without the cream (the custard will be slightly thicker). At the start of step 6, whip the cream so it’s light and floppy, not too stiff, and fold it into the cold custard. Freeze for 3-4 hours, stirring once an hour until almost frozen, then freeze as above.

If you’d like to find out more about our ice cream maker (which was a real bargain!), have a look at my ultimate vanilla ice cream post. Just scroll to the bottom of that to find out more!

How to serve the ultimate blackberry ice cream

This ice cream is delicious served on its own, although we added some white chocolate stars which were yummy! They also look pretty good too against that gorgeous purple. It also goes amazingly with apple crumble! We often make apple and blackberry crumble, but switching the blackberries from the crumble to the ice cream worked so well. Yum!

I said at the start of this post that this is a way of making blackberries last int autumn, but to be honest, this is just too good not to eat! Enjoy!

The post Ultimate blackberry ice cream appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

For the past week or so it has been hot and sunny here, which doesn’t normally happen in Newcastle, so it’s best to make the most of it! So I decided to make some of this lovely lemon sorbet from a bargain cook book that I found in a charity shop – Good Housekeeping’s Healthy Family Recipes. You can make it in an ice cream maker but we don’t have one, but it still tasted amazing. It’s a real palette cleanser – super zingy and great in this hot weather!

Ingredients

3 juicy lemons
125g/4oz golden caster sugar
1 large egg white

Method

1. Finely pare the lemon zest and the squeeze the juice into a separate bowl. Put the zest into a pan with the sugar and 350ml (12 fl/oz) water. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, and then increase the heat and boil for 10 minutes. Leave the sugar syrup to cool (this took about 30 minutes).

2. Add the lemon juice to the cool syrup and mix well. Cover and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. Strain the syrup through a fine sieve into a bowl. In another bowl, beat the egg white until just frothy, and then whisk into the lemon mixture.

4. Either use an ice cream maker or pour into a shallow freeze-proof container, and freeze until almost frozen. Mash with a fork and freeze completely.

5. Remove the sorbet to the fridge 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

The post Lemon Sorbet appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I substituted some of the ingredients from the original recipe (using freshly chopped basil instead of mint and parsley) and because I couldn’t find filo pastry in the supermarket this afternoon, I used a sheet of puff pastry instead. I didn’t use the sesame seeds on top either because Tom hates them! I’ll try and include the method for both types of pastry here – hopefully it won’t be too confusing!

Ingredients

5 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing
400g red onions, finely chopped (I used 2 large red onions)
500g leeks, finely chopped (I used 3 leeks)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
600g courgettes, finely chopped (I used 3 courgettes)
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
60g fresh mint leaves, removed from storks and roughly chopped
60g fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
250g pack filo sheets (12 sheet pack, or 1 sheet of ready to roll puff pastry)
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted
25 Kalamata olives (or good quality mixed olives, stoned)
1 heaped teaspoon dried mint
200g feta, crumbled
2 medium eggs, beaten
2-3 teaspoons sesame seeds

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170C or gas mark 3 (I went up to gas 4 with my puff pastry). Grease the base and sides of a 23cm x 7cm deep cake tin, or a similar sized oven proof dish.

2. Put 3 tablespoons of oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the onions, leeks and garlic and stir well. Turn the heat down to low and cook gently for 10 minutes until softened. Add the remaining olive oil, courgettes, chilli and herbs, and continue to cook over a low heat for a further 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with black pepper (I didn’t add salt because the feta is salty, and this will be added later).

3. If using filo pastry, lay a sheet of filo over the base of the prepared tin and mould it gently into its shape, allowing the ends to fall over the edge of the tin. Brush with oil and don’t worry if it breaks up a little. Repeat this with 5 more sheets of pastry, brushing each one with oil as you go.

4. Add the lemon zest, pine nuts, olives and dried mint to the courgette mixture, stirring well to combine. Spoon the mixture into the filo lined tin (if using puff pastry, just spoon straight into the greased tin). Crumble the feta over the top and then pour in the beaten eggs (save a little if using puff pastry for brushing).

5. For the top of the pie, either layer 3 sheets of filo pastry (brushing each one with oil) and then fold the hanging edges over the top of the pie, pressing down gently. Brush the filo pastry top with oil and scatter with sesame seeds. If using puff pastry, cover the courgette mixture with the sheet, crimping the excess on the top, and brush with the remaining egg.

6. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes until golden. Serve hot or cold with some salad. Enjoy!

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